Microsoft sues Datel over Xbox 360 controllers

Microsoft has sued Datel, the gaming-accessory company, over its third-party Xbox 360 controllers, alleging the U.K. company infringed five Microsoft patents.

The software superpower says technology used in Datel’s TurboFire and WildFire controllers, which work with Microsoft’s Xbox 360, infringes a group of U.S. patents Microsoft was granted within the past three years. Microsoft said it filed a similar complaint Wednesday in the United Kingdom.

“We have filed a complaint in the U.S. against Datel, alleging that its products violate our design registrations for Xbox controllers,” Microsoft spokesman Kevin Kutz said in a statement. “We have a robust licensing program that ensures high standards and contributes to a great experience for the Xbox gamer community. We have a responsibility to protect that program and the companies that are part of it, as well as our own intellectual property.”

Top to bottom: Datel, Microsoft and Datel controllers for the Xbox 360.